Intentions to Marry, 1921 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840497, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1921b contains pages 433-884, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 493

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar H. E. Hill

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

1 April 1921

Clarence Ensor
Kathleen Margaret Dean

Clarence Ensor
Kathleen Margaret Dean
💍 1921/1886

Bachelor
Widow September 12th 1920

Car Salesman
Home Duties

25
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

1 year
6 years

Registrar's Office, Gisborne

4255

1 April 1921

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	53
Date of Notice	1 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Ensor	Kathleen Margaret Dean
	💍 1921/1886
Condition	Bachelor	Widow September 12th 1920
Profession	Car Salesman	Home Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 year	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Gisborne
Folio	4255
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

2 April 1921

John Nicol Carnegie
Elsie May Hepburn

John Nicol Carnegie
Elsie May Hepburn
💍 1921/1887

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

22
22

Manutuke
Manutuke, Poverty Bay

7 years
6 years

At the private residence of the bride's parents, Manutuke, Poverty Bay

4256

2 April 1921

Rev. Percy J. Wainwright, Presbyterian, Gisborne

No	54
Date of Notice	2 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Nicol Carnegie	Elsie May Hepburn
	💍 1921/1887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Manutuke	Manutuke, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At the private residence of the bride's parents, Manutuke, Poverty Bay
Folio	4256
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Percy J. Wainwright, Presbyterian, Gisborne

6 April 1921

Duncan McMillan
Sarah Louisa Spratt

Duncan McMillan
Sarah Louisa Spratt
💍 1921/1888

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Home Duties

35
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

7 days
3 weeks

The residence of the bride-groom's brother, "The Willows", Kaiteratahi

4257

6 April 1921

Rev. A. Macdonald Aspland, Presbyterian - Ormond

No	55
Date of Notice	6 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan McMillan	Sarah Louisa Spratt
	💍 1921/1888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Home Duties
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	The residence of the bride-groom's brother, "The Willows", Kaiteratahi
Folio	4257
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macdonald Aspland, Presbyterian - Ormond

8 April 1921

William Thomas Wilson
Esther Elizabeth Benson

William Thomas Wilson
Esther Elizabeth Benson
💍 1921/1889

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyfarmer
Home Duties

31
20

Ormond
Ormond

14 years
Life

St Luke's Church of England, Waerenga-a-hika

4258

Mark James Benson (Father)

8 April 1921

Rev. Gerald Henry Morse, Church of England, Waerenga-a-hika

No	56
Date of Notice	8 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Wilson	Esther Elizabeth Benson
	💍 1921/1889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyfarmer	Home Duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Ormond	Ormond
Length of Residence	14 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church of England, Waerenga-a-hika
Folio	4258
Consent	Mark James Benson (Father)
Date of Certificate	8 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Gerald Henry Morse, Church of England, Waerenga-a-hika

8 April 1921

Henry Frederick Hyde
Alice Emily Allen

Henry Frederick Hyde
Alice Emily Allen
💍 1921/1890

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

19
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

Life
About 2 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

4259

None in Dominion authorized to give consent issued 14 days from date of notice

23 April 1921

Rev. Thomas Lane, Catholic

No	57
Date of Notice	8 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Frederick Hyde	Alice Emily Allen
	💍 1921/1890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	Life	About 2 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	4259
Consent	None in Dominion authorized to give consent issued 14 days from date of notice
Date of Certificate	23 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Lane, Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).